He Said One Kneel Bought Forever Love, but Finally Begged Me Back Chapter 04

He Said One Kneel Bought Forever Love, but Finally Begged Me Back Chapter 04

Graham scoffed, losing his patience.

He turned to the headstone.

“Look at her, Mrs. Hartwell. You died before you could teach your daughter how to actually be a wife.”

My fingers curled into fists.

He kept going.

“Every time something doesn’t go her way, she calls off the wedding. Threatens divorce.”

“She was the same way when you were sick.”

“One little thing goes wrong and she throws a tantrum. And the second she cries, we’re all supposed to drop everything to coddle her.”

“You asked me to take care of her. How am I supposed to do that when she acts like this?”

I couldn’t move.

My mother spent the last months of her life terrified of being a burden.

When the pain kept her up at night, she never made a sound.

Before she died, she held Graham’s hand and asked him to be patient with me.

And now he was standing in front of her grave, calling that promise a burden. Blaming her for the way I turned out.

Graham looked at me.

“If your mother could see you right now, she’d be ashamed of what you’ve become.”

I closed my eyes.

The last shred of hope inside me withered and died.

“Graham, I want a divorce.”

“My lawyer will send the papers to your office.”

Something shifted in his face. He grabbed my injured arm.

The wound tore open. Pain shot through me so hard I shook.

Graham stared at me. Then he laughed, cold, flat, nothing behind it.

“You just keep pushing, don’t you? There isn’t going to be a divorce. But I’ll make sure you remember what happens when you threaten me.”

He turned and walked down the hill.

Sloane followed, then turned back and lifted her chin at me.

“You really did it this time, Laurel.”

I knelt in front of the headstone and desperately tried to scrub the red away with my sleeve, but it only stained the stone deeper.

Back at the apartment, the nursery door was open.

Graham was holding the baby’s fetal doppler monitor.

The only recording we had of Milo.

He pulled the memory card out. And snapped it in half right in front of me.

I stood in the doorway. I don’t think I breathed.

Graham set the monitor back down on the table.

“Think of that as a lesson.”

When I lost the baby, he’d been more devastated than I was.

When I woke up from surgery, he was on his knees beside my bed, eyes swollen from crying.

Now he just looked at me, eyes cold.

“All I broke today was a recording.”

“I don’t know what it’ll be next time.”

I looked up at him.

Something flickered behind his eyes. Regret, maybe. But his voice didn’t soften.

“Use the time while Sloane and I are gone to think about this.”

“When I get back, I expect you to drop this attitude.”

I closed my eyes. The tears came anyway.

Out of habit, Graham reached out to wipe them away.

I turned my face away.

His hand hung in the air. His jaw went tight.

“Laurel, I’m running out of patience.”

Sloane called from the hallway.

“Graham, bags are in the car. We’re gonna miss the flight.”

Graham pulled his hand back.

“Don’t even think about leaving.”

“Where would you even go?”

The door clicked shut. The apartment went quiet.

I sat on the floor and picked up the scattered pieces, one by one.

A silver baby bracelet lay on the bed.

He’d held my hand while he engraved it, one letter at a time. [Milo, Mom and Dad will always love you.]

I ran my thumb over the letters.

Forever. What a small word for something that never lasts.

A few days later, Graham and Sloane came back from the trip.

Sloane swung the door open, grinning. “Laurel, your favorite best man brought you a present!”

No one answered.

Graham went straight to the nursery.

The only thing inside was a signed divorce settlement.